"God made the Dutch, but the Dutch made Holland" Top 5 Page for this destination Amsterdam by jo104

I have had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam 7 times without going to a coffee house - seems almost unbelievable!! (then again who wants to be stoned out of your mind in a beautiful place like this)

Being South african I find comfort in the gabled facades of the houses, the language & the friendliness of the Dutch.

I always find myself relaxing & smiling walking along the canals seeing the houses slanting awkwardly.

I am lucky enough to have a close friend living in the Albert Cuyp district which is becoming quite trendy. Unfortunately the Sarphati plaza is not open for the general public but by invitation only. I have the advantage of finding choice places off the usual touristy trail. My friend Han is a wonderful host. Han Epskamp wrote the music & lyrics for come back group Mai Tai hopefully soon to be a big hit over here ... listen out for his single "Don't forget to live" A super star in his own right!!

Everytime I visit I see something new, learn something new & generally have the best time. On my August 2006 visit I learnt about the Calvanists were a fanatical Protestant movement who roamed from city to city under the nickname geuzen (beggars), mudering priests, nuns & Catholic sympathisers smashing papist idolatry in churches. Catholics were forced to worship in these clandestine churches. So seeing one of these churches was a real experience not to mention a return visit to the Begijnhof.

This past visit April 2007 I learned more about the architect Michel de Klerk whose unusual artistic style of residential buildings caused much controversy.

Amsterdam is divided into certain areas - Medieval centre, Western Canal belt, Jordaan & Western Isles, Nieuwmarkt Neighbourhood, The Plantage, Eastern Islands & Oosterpark, Oud Zuid and I can say I have visited all these areas but it takes a while!!

A previous visit here co-incided with Sail 2005, unfortunately we were not able to get near any of the ships due to sheer volumes of people. On the saturday evening we caught the fireworks display.

At the moment parts of Amsterdam are being dug up for a new metro which will create a rapid connection between Amsterdam-North, the city centre and Amsterdam-South, unfortunately not only does it look like a building site, residents claim their foundations are sinking.

Everytime I visit I try and get outside of the city, so far I have been to Hoorn, Vollendam, Gouda, Edam, Alkmaar, Den Haag, Den Bosch, De Efteling and Utrecht.

Most of the pictures on this page are my own although some photo's are curtesy of my friend & my official photographer Rich, now turned VT'er Tingles

• Pros:outspoken, gables, narrow houses, canals, frites en mayo
• Cons:tourists only going to smoke it up in coffee shops
• In a nutshell:More then just coffee shops, red lights & bikes